Yet Another Wheel Bearing Question

[TicTocTach]

I'm getting some noise from the rear axle area of my 2018 EBPP that sounds like wheel bearings. There is also a bunch of slop in the driveshaft at the pinion bearing area, but it seems like that is mostly a clang/clunk sound when going from R to D or when downshifting. At first I thought the wheel bearing noise was tire noise, but I can feel a the rear wheel move when the car is sitting on all 4's in the garage and grabbing the tire at 12 o'clock. and pulling/pushing.

Took the car to Local Dealer this morning and they came back with "the noise is tire wear, and the slop you feel is actually inside the differential - it's a floating axle and that clicking is in the spider gears."

I'm calling BS.

This car has the Torsen diff, so there wouldn't be any noise from "spider gears", and the tires have been on the car for a couple years now with a relatively conservative alignment - about the same as GT350R alignment - Front -2.0* camber & 0.01* toe in; Rear -1.5* camber and -0.11* toe in. There is a little wear on the inside of the tires as you'd expect, but still plenty of tread across the tire. Seems like bearings going out would also lead to increased tire wear.

So what is the real deal with Mustang wheel bearings, and when do you know they are going bad? I'm used to hearing the droning / howling noise and feeling the play like any other bearing I've dealt with over the last 40 years of working on my own cars. I have an extended warranty on the Mustang and I don't want to do this work if I don't have to.

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[TicTocTach]

Small update - took this video after a few minutes in the garage today. Not sure how they could claim having tested all 4 wheels without noticing this…

 

[daSNAK3]

I would be furious, bring the car back along with the video and start some shit... lol

I feel like dealers don't even try anymore.

 

[Crackerjack17]

Take the wheel off and try and tighten the nut? Wheel bearing is easy to change if you have the tools.

 

[TicTocTach]

I plan to go full social media on them as well as sending the video to the service manager as another reminder of how crappy their mechanics are. I'm also going to get the parts in the mail and do the job myself. It was weeks for me to get an appointment to just look at the problem with Local Dealer, and the next closest has 2-star reviews online for much of the same behavior. I just don't know what kind of business model that is...

 

[noGreta!]

Sorry to hear your troubles OP, these crooks now only understand one language: lawyer talk. When it comes to recalls and warranty work:

"They are the No. 1 problem at Ford right now. And it's the worst in the industry when it comes to recalls and warranty work," said John McElroy, a longtime industry observer and host of "Autoline After Hours" webcast and podcast. "It’s been going on for years and they haven’t solved it yet."

 

[NightmareMoon]

Well if you can rock the wheel like that its 100% a bearing, but you knew that.

couple of times while under warranty, I paid out of pocket for known trustworthy shops to fix things which would have been covered under warranty, partly because the dealer near me is swamped constantly and I didn’t want to leave my car for 2 weeks for a 2 day repair (oil pressure sensor leak)

they couldn’t figure out my brake issues and it took extra time to get the ‘good’ mechanic’s eyes on it. Gives me pause buying another Ford although theres a lot I like about the company’s products.

 

[TicTocTach]

Well if you can rock the wheel like that its 100% a bearing, but you knew that.

couple of times while under warranty, I paid out of pocket for known trustworthy shops to fix things which would have been covered under warranty, partly because the dealer near me is swamped constantly and I didn’t want to leave my car for 2 weeks for a 2 day repair (oil pressure sensor leak)

they couldn’t figure out my brake issues and it took extra time to get the ‘good’ mechanic’s eyes on it. Gives me pause buying another Ford although theres a lot I like about the company’s products.

The delay in service is a big part of the problem - 3 weeks to get the wheel bearing looked at, and November 29th before they can look at the driveshaft issue… then another 2-3 weeks for the DS repair…really?? The wheel bearing is small potatoes in the overall scheme of things, and the warranty is still there if something big comes up. Off to Ford Parts Giant, I suppose…

 

[Keeffa]

Small update - took this video after a few minutes in the garage today. Not sure how they could claim having tested all 4 wheels without noticing this…

I had same knock on my 2018 I just tightened the hub nut, all fixed. Ford it would appear are usless everywhere. Hope not but!

 

[bnightstar]

So what is the real deal with Mustang wheel bearings, and when do you know they are going bad? I'm used to hearing the droning / howling noise and feeling the play like any other bearing I've dealt with over the last 40 years of working on my own cars. I have an extended warranty on the Mustang and I don't want to do this work if I don't have to.

First of all I don't know why but it's always driver side rear that is causing this issue. The Shop is not lying to you it most often than not is the diff that goes bad eventually. But in reality the issue is the lug nuts are not tight enough (150 ft-lbs) because most shops that do work on a car don't torque them high enough of there torque wrenches are old not precise enough. What I can suggest and what helped in my fight with this was the fallowing:

1. After a while the half shaft cv joint will go bad and if you don't solve for it it will take the diff with it. (So I bought a new driver side half shaft).
2. I bought aftermarket lug nuts that don't have moving caps like the ones Ford Sells (my caps were turning and preventing the lugs to be tight enough).
3. I bought a torque wrench (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B0758973VX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
4. Now any time car is in the shop I torque the wheel bearings.

I didn't have a wheel bearing failure since 2021 and this was 14 000 km's ago.
Overall the problem is not the wheel hubs is the poor design of the factory lug nuts.

Also as someone mentioned the nut on the wheel hub have a tendency to back out. When you do you need to buy new ones and change marking the wheel hub nuts is good way to be sure they are not backing out.

 

[Dana Pants]

First of all I don't know why but it's always driver side rear that is causing this issue.

Because the axle nut thread is in the direction that launching the car will loosen it.

Threadlocker red + as tight as humanly possible is the “best” solution I have found.

 

[bnightstar]

Because the axle nut thread is in the direction that launching the car will loosen it.

Threadlocker red + as tight as humanly possible is the “best” solution I have found.

yeah that makes sense now but the nut don't move unless the lug nuts are not tide enough as well. And if that is correct not lunching the car should prevent that issue from happening ?

 

[Dana Pants]

yeah that makes sense now but the nut don't move unless the lug nuts are not tide enough as well. And if that is correct not lunching the car should prevent that issue from happening ?

A 5 liter internal combustion engine is a pretty big impact gun hammer mechanism. Don’t think just glue.

 

[Johnny Rockit]

Small update - took this video after a few minutes in the garage today. Not sure how they could claim having tested all 4 wheels without noticing this…

Someone should get fired for a fuck up like that.

 

[NightmareMoon]

First of all I don't know why but it's always driver side rear that is causing this issue. The Shop is not lying to you it most often than not is the diff that goes bad eventually. But in reality the issue is the lug nuts are not tight enough (150 ft-lbs) because most shops that do work on a car don't torque them high enough of there torque wrenches are old not precise enough. What I can suggest and what helped in my fight with this was the fallowing:

1. After a while the half shaft cv joint will go bad and if you don't solve for it it will take the diff with it. (So I bought a new driver side half shaft).
2. I bought aftermarket lug nuts that don't have moving caps like the ones Ford Sells (my caps were turning and preventing the lugs to be tight enough).
3. I bought a torque wrench (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B0758973VX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
4. Now any time car is in the shop I torque the wheel bearings.

I didn't have a wheel bearing failure since 2021 and this was 14 000 km's ago.
Overall the problem is not the wheel hubs is the poor design of the factory lug nuts.

Also as someone mentioned the nut on the wheel hub have a tendency to back out. When you do you need to buy new ones and change marking the wheel hub nuts is good way to be sure they are not backing out.

good story, but many of us switched to good lug nuts very early and have always torqued everything properly since day 1. I’ve had 4 hub failures, mostly early on, and another forum guy who tracks a lot had 9!

Ford has been dealing with it on the parts side and the newer hub and nut model numbers don’t fail as quickly, whats why you’ve noticed a longer interval recently. The newer hubs and nuts are better quality.

also the reason you see more drivers side failures is that the axle nuts aren’t reverse thread on that side, so the normal torque from accelerating is in the ‘loosen’ direction. In that case checking it regularly probably helps.

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